Speed-controlling device for musical instruments.



4Hvl I. LA JOIE.

SPEED CONTRDLLING DEVICE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED AUGI23| I9|5.

Patented Sept. 12, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

H. I. LA JOIE.

SPEED CONTROLLING DEVICE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

ARPLICATION FILED AUGLZS. I9I5.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT J'. LA JOIE, 0F ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO AUTOPIANOCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SPEED-CONTROLLING DEVICE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Application filed August 23, 1915.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HERBERT J. LA JOIE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, haveinvented a new and useful Speed-Controlling Device for MusicalInstruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a speed controlling device, particularlyadapted for controlling the speed of a note sheet in an automaticmusical instrument.

Such instruments, as commonly constructed, are provided with a manuallyadjustable governor by which the speed of the motor can be varied atwill, but the speed when adjusted remains constant until the adjustmentis changed by the operator. The takeup roll is thus operated at constantspeed 2o and, as the note sheet winding thereon increases in thickness,the rate of travel of the note sheet correspondingly increases. Thisincreases the tempo of the music to a degree which becomes seriouslyobjectionable when very long records are played, and also when theinstrument is used to furnish dance music without manual supervision.

Devices have been heretofore provided for automatically regulating thenote sheet speed, independently of the manually controller governor, andit is the object of my invention to improve the construction of suchdevices, rendering them more eflicient in operation and more reliable inservice.

Vith this object in view, one feature of my invention relates to theprovision of a sheet-engaging memberx adapted to coperate with the sheetwinding upon the music roll, the decrease in size thereof permitting thespeed-adjusting devices to become operative. j

A second feature of my invention relates to the provision of anautomatically adjustable connection between the sheet-engaging memberand the speed-adjusting device,

whereby the device will automatically adjust itself to a sheet windingof any size upon the music roll.

A further feature of my invention consists in the provision of aconnection between the speed-adjusting device and the reroll leverthrough which connection the controlling valve will be fully open whenthe reroll mechanism is in operation.

My invention further relates to certain Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1916.

Serial No. 46,816.

arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafterdescribed and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

A preferred form of my invention is shown in the drawings in which-Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of an automatic musicalinstrument with my invention attached thereto; Fig. 2 is a verticalsectional view of the controlling valve, taken along the line 2-2 inFig. 3; Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, taken along the line 33 in Fig. 1; Fig. a is a front elevation of the automatic adjustingdevice and the connection to the reroll lever; Fig. 5 is a detailsectional elevation taken along the line 5 5 in Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 is adetail end elevation looking in the direction of the arrow 6 in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, I have shown my invention as applied to anautomatic musical instrument of ordinary construction, the parts thereofherein shown including apcasing 10 and a horizontal supporting member 11upon which the music roll actuating mechanism is mounted in a frame workor casing 11u. The music roll is indicated at 12, the take-up roll at13, and the motor for actuating said rolls at 15.

The motor 15 is designed to rotate the driving shaft 16 throughconnections not shown and the shaft 16 is connected through the sprocketwheels 17 and 1S and the sprocket chain 19 to rotate the clutch shaft20. The shaft 2O is longitudinally movable by the reroll lever 21. W'henin its lefthand position, the pinion 22 upon the shaft 20 meshes with agear 23 fixed to rotate with the take-up roll 13.

Then the reroll lever is shifted to its opposite position the shaft 20is moved to the right until the pinion 22 is disengaged from the gear 23and at the same time a clutch pin 24: engages a pin 25' upon a sprocketwheel 26 loose on the shaft 20. The wheel 26 is connected by a chain 27to a sprocket wheel 28 mounted upon the shaft 29 which supports one endof the music roll 12.

The reroll lever is actuated from the usual handle 30 mounted in thefront of the keybed. The connections between the handle 30 and the lever21 comprise a link 31 connected to the handle 30 and to an arm 32 upon ashaft 33, the shaft 33 being provided with a second arm 34 which inturnv is connected by a link 35 to the reroll lever 2l.

The motor l5 is provided with an exhaust pipe 36 which is connectedthrough a controlling valve box or casing 37 to a second pipe 38 whichis connected to the usual manually controlled governor 39, mounted onthe usual wind chest 40.

All of the parts thus far described with the exception of thecontrolling valve are of the usual construction and form no part of myinvention.

The exhaust pipe 38 is connected with the interior of the valve casing37 through an air passage 41 which is triangular in cross section asclearly shown in Fig. 2. A controlling valve plate 42 is mounted toslide in the casing 37 and to thereby close more or less of the valveopening 4l. A light spring 43 is fixed to the valve casing and isreceived between two pins 44 upon the plate 42, said spring tending toslide the valve toward the left to its normally inoperative position asshown in Fig. 2.

The operation of the valve plate 42 is controlled by a rod 44 having oneend fixed to the plate 42 and extending outwardly through an opening inthe end of the casing 37, said opening being provided with suitablepacking` to prevent the passage of air therethrough. rlhe rod 44 isfurther supported in a bearing 45 (Fig. 3) mounted upon the music boxframe l1, and its lefthand end is positioned between the two jaws 46 and47 (Fig. 5) of a pneumatic gripping device. Said device consists of asmall pneumatic bellows 48 (Fig. 3) mounted upon a block 49 slidable inways 50 secured to the rear face of the music box frame 11a. The jaw 46is carried by the fixed leaf 51 of the bellows 48, said leaf beingsecured to the block 49, while the jaw 47 is carried by the movable leafof the bellows 48. The pneumatic device is connected by a liexibleexhaust pipe 53 (Fig. l) to the wind chest 40.

The slide block 49 is connected by a link 54 (Fig. 4) to the verticalarm of the bellcrank 55 which is mounted upon a fixed pivot 56. Thehorizontal arm of the bellcrank 55 is connected by a. link 57 (Figs. 4and 6) to an arm 58 extending rearwardly from a shaft 59 supported inbearings in the ends of the music box 11n.

The shaft 59 is provided with two additional arms 60 and 6l which extendforwardly and provide bearings for a sheetengaging roll 62. The arm 58is extended rearwardly beyond its connection with the link 57 and isprovided at its outer end with a hook 63 to which is secured one end ofa tension spring 64. The other end of the spring is attached to a hook65 mounted on the casing 11a. The relative positions of the hooks 63 and65 and the shaft 59 is shown in Fig. 6, in which it will be seen thatthe spring 64 forces the roll 62 yieldingly downward against the musicsheet winding upon the music roll l2, causing the roll to follow thewinding as it decreases in dialneter through the operation of theinstrument.

In the operation of the device the music roll is placed within thecasing ll*L in the usual manner and the end of the music sheet isconnected to the take-up roll 13. The roll 62 mounted upon the arms 60and 6l carried by the shaft 59 engages the winding upon the music rollunder the influence of the spring 64. As the roll 62 moves downward toengage the sheet winding it operates through the links 57 and 54 andbellcrank to move the slide block 49 toward the right, as viewed inFigs. 3 and 4. As the exhaust mechanism of the instrument is not inoperation at this time, the pneumatic device remains open and the jaws46 and 47 slide freely along the rod 44. As soon, however, as theinstrunient is started in operation, the exhaust tension in the windchest 40 is communicated. through the pipe 53 to the pneumatic grippingdevice, collapsing the bellows 48 and causing the jaws 46 and 47 toengage and grip the rod 44. As the sheet windingl upon the music roll l2thereafter gradually decreases in diameter, the roll 62 moives downwardand the slide 49 and rod 44 are moved toward the right. Such movement ofthe rod 44 is communicated to the valve 42 which gradually decreases theeffective size of the valve opening 41, thereby decreasing the speed ofthe motor It will be noted that this decrease in speed is entirelyindependent of any manual adjustment of the speed of the governor 39.

After the playing of a given record has been completed the reroll leverwill be shifted in the direction of the arrow (t in Fig. 4 to connectthe clutch pins 24 and 25 to thereby drive the music roll positively inthe reverse direction. Under these conditions, it is desirable that themotor l5 operate at its maximum speed and for this purpose I provide alever mounted upon a fixed pivot 7l and having its upper end engaging'the slide block 49. The lower end of the lever 70 is connected by a link72 to the upper end of the reroll lever 2l. As the upper end of thereroll lever moves to the right (as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4),the upper end of the lever 70 is moved to the left, thereby forciblyreturning the slide block 49 and the valve 42 to their extreme left-handpositions, such movements being aided by the spring 43 in the valvecasing 37. This movement is performed against the tension of the spring64 until 'the hook (S3-passes below the center line through the shaft 59and the hook 65, below which line' the spring 64 acts to retain the roll62 in l raised position and out of Contact with the music roll 12,during the rewinding operation.

It should be further noted that the music sheet in my sheet-windingmechanism performs no part in the actuation of my improved controllingmechanism. By controlling the speed from the music roll which isconstantly decreasing in size, the roll 62 follows the decreasing sheetwinding and the adjusting mechanism is actuated by gravity and by thespring 64.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, it will be evident that changesand modifications can be made therein by those skilled in the art,without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as set forth in theclaims, and I do not wish to be otherwise limited to the details hereindisclosed, but

What I claim is zl 1. In a musical instrument, in combination, a musicroll, a take-up roll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections betweensaid motor and said rolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor,and means for adjusting said valve, said means including" a memberengaging the note sheet winding upon the music roll and effective togradually close the valve opening as the diameter of said windingdecreases.

2. In a musical instrument, in vcombination, a music roll, a take-uproll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said motor and saidrolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, a member engagingthe note-sheet winding upon the music roll, and adjustable connectionsbetween said member and said valve, said connections including apneumatic gripping device rendered operative by the occurrence ofexhaust tension in the instrument.

3. In a musical instrument, in combination, a music roll, a take-uproll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said moto-r andsaid rolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, a memberengaging the note-sheet winding upon the music roll, and adjustableconnections between said member and said valve, said connectionsincluding a pair of gripping aws, a rod attached at one end to saidvalve and positioned between said jaws, a pneumatic device supportingsaid jaws and connected to move with said member, and an exhaustconnectionto said pneumatic device, whereby said device may bc caused togrip said rod and to form a substantially inextensible connectionbetween said member and said valve.

4. In a musical instrument, in combination, a music roll, a take-uproll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said motor and saidrolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, a member engagingthe note-sheet winding upon the music roll, and adjustable connectionsbetween said member and said valve, said connections including anormally freelyslidable rod attached at one end to said valve, a springeffective to open said valve when said rod is free to slide, and apneumatic gripping device connected to said member and movabletherewith, said device gripping said rod when subjected to exhausttension and forming therewith a substantially inextensible connectionbetween said member and said valve.

5. In a musical instrument, in combination, a music roll, a take-uproll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said motor and saidrolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, a member engagingthe note-sheet winding upon one of said rolls, connection between saidmember and said valve, a reroll lever, and additional `connectionstherefrom, effective to positively retract said member and valve whenthe reroll mechanism is placed in operation.

6. In a musical. instrument, in combination, a music roll, a take-uproll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said motor and saidrolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, a member engagingthe note-sheet winding upon the music roll, adjustable connectionsbetween said member and said valve including a pneumatic gripping devicerendered operative by the occurrence of exhaust tension in theinstrument, a reroll lever, and connections from said lever to saidgripping device eifective to move said device and said valve to normalinoperative position when the reroll mechanism is rendered operative.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

HERBERT J. LA JOIE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C.

